Tuscaloosa native and New York City resident Miller Mobley shot the photo featured on this Time Magazine cover, released this week. (Time Magazine)

New York-based photographer Miller Mobley, who grew up in Tuscaloosa, landed the cover Time Magazine this week, realizing a dream-come-true for the 26-year-old and his wife and producer Jana.

His photo involves a brightly lit shot of an infant, wearing a diaper, against a solid black background with a headline reading "Want to Know My Future?" above the child. The subhead for writer Bonnie Rochman's cover story reads, "New genetic tests can point to risks -- but not always a care."

Surrounding the infant are several diagram graphics with the names of various conditions and diseases.

The story that required the photo started out as a piece exclusively for TIME.com about genetic testing for children, Mobley said.

The Mobleys went to Philadelphia, New Jersey, the Bronx and Washington D.C. to take pictures of several different families who were dealing with their kids being born with a birth defect and having DNA tests done on their other children. Mobley said he thought it was a cool story and was pleased with the assignment.

But Time then took the unprecedented step of giving a web-based story the cover of the print magazine. So Mobley got a call from the magazine's head photo editor who asked if he'd like to shoot the cover photo.

"I was obviously shaking. I couldn't believe I was being asked that," Mobley said.

The Mobleys have always wanted to shoot the cover photo for Time, but in no way did they think it would happen this soon.

"When we moved to New York, anyone we'd see or talk to would say they couldn't believe we were leaving Alabama," Jana said. "We'd always just say we had huge goals and dreams, and we won't be satisfied until we at least try. We said out loud that one day want to be on the cover of Time. That was the one spoken goal we always had.

"For it to have happened and happened within two years of living here is just like the craziest, most incredible blessing and evidence of Miller's hard work."

Of course, they agreed. The shoot took place at Milk Studios and involved taking the photos of six different babies, some of them models and others from various casting agencies, Mobley said. The baby on the cover was recommended by a friend of Time's photo editor. The shoot had two assistants, with Jana serving as producer and on-set manager of the crew. Mobley said there was even a "baby wrangler" on the set.

After about a month of breaking news involving Egypt and the Gen. David Petraeus scandal that pushed his cover back, it's finally on shelves.

"It's one of those things that you just never know where something's going to go," Mobley said. "Here's one thing I learned that was the biggest thing: You never know where opportunities can lead. When you get one and you think it's the right one, and your gut is telling you to take it, you take it."